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Cuomo, who is running for re-election and has been mentioned as a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2016, said he had become frustrated that talk of such renovations has been going on since the 1990s with little progress.

He wants to jump-start construction just as he has done with a $3.9 billion project to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge, north of New York City, which also had been stalled for years.

LaGuardia, along the Flushing and Bowery
bays in northern Queens, is the closest of the New York area's three
major air hubs to midtown Manhattan, just eight miles, and it handled a
record 27 million passengers last year.

Set for a refit: American Airlines planes at LaGuardia Airport in New York

Cramped: A Port Authority police officer guards a terminal at LaGuardia Airport in New York

LaGuardia Airport has been repeatedly ranked as the worst in America in customer satisfaction surveys

Often the first building they see is the sprawling, boomerang-shaped Central Terminal, which opened just in time to receive visitors to the 1964 World's Fair. Many passengers say it is like stepping back in time.

On the west side of the terminal sits a modest food court featuring a hamburger counter, a pizzeria and a Dunkin' Donuts.

'It's probably the worst of all the terminals I go in and out of,' said Thomas Smith, a frequent-flying energy company executive from Chicago who has seen buckets on the floor under leaky ceilings and other signs of decay. 'There's no real food service other than small snack shops. The gate areas are old.'

Most passengers have to drag their carry-on bags down a flight of stairs to get from their gates to baggage claim because only one concourse has an escalator. Others have complained that neither Kennedy nor LaGuardia provides free Wi-Fi, something that has been industry standard for years.

NEW YORK'S FOUR COMMERCIAL AIRPORT SET PASSENGER RECORD

The four New York metropolitan-area commercial airports have set an all-time record in 2013 for the number of passengers flying in and out.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced Monday that the airports saw a total of 111.6 million passengers last year.

They are John F. Kennedy, Newark Liberty, Stewart International and LaGuardia airports.

John F Kennedy had approximately 50 million passengers. LaGuardia had 27 million, Newark had 34 million and Stewart had 320,000.

In 2012, the number of passengers at all four airports was 109.4 million.

The 2013 record surpassed the previous mark, set in 2007. That year, 109.4 million passengers used the airports.

Built to accommodate 8 million
passengers a year, the central terminal now handles 12.5 million.

Cuomo
envisions a new terminal that could handle as many as 17.5 million
passengers by 2030.

LaGuardia's three other terminals — which include
the Art Deco-style Marine Air Terminal, where seaplanes landed in the
1940s — are not slated for renovation.

'When
you see the difference between these airports and some of these other
countries' (airports), it's shameful,' said George Hobica, who runs the
website Airfarewatchdog.com.

He noted that after the September 11, 2001,
terror attacks, airports had to install security equipment for luggage
and passenger screening.

In 2012, Travel and Leisure magazine put LaGuardia at the bottom of its ranking of the nation's worst airports, saying it had the 'dubious honor of ranking the worst for the check-in and security process, the worst for baggage handling, the worst when it comes to providing Wi-Fi, the worst at staff communication, and the worst design and cleanliness.'

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, concedes the facility is in need of an overhaul and had already begun awarding contracts for preliminary work at LaGuardia. A spokesman said it welcomes the state's involvement to expedite the project.

Four companies have been asked to submit proposals for the Central Terminal Building project by April 15, and construction is expected to begin by the end of the year. The tricky part will come when construction is fully underway while the airport continues to serve millions.

'Everybody acknowledges that this is a complex undertaking but one that is absolutely necessary,' said Stephen Sigmund, executive director of the Global Gateway Alliance, which has advocated for improvements at New York's airports.

'It's going to be a nightmare,' added Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst. 'This is going to be the equivalent of General Motors trying to change one of its models while the assembly line is still running. ... But this is the way airports get redeveloped. Every airline understands this.'

Darius Douglass, a New York writer waiting for a flight at LaGuardia, said the workers throughout the airport try to be friendly and helpful.

'But it's an old airport. It just needs to be refurbished. It was good in its heyday, but nothing has been done.'